#especially about eggo 1 considering how little we know about him and have to infer from tangible life events

[navree]

I love all of your brilliant analyses through the answers!

There’s not much information about the historical Targaryens, so could you please give us a check up for the Conquerors? Can you describe each of them in a few sentences? Especially Rhaenys, because she died young and beautiful per Lana del Rey, and didn’t have much time to show her personality. I would really love that because the book did all of them dirty

You're too kind, thank you so much!!!

How to describe my precious most beloved Conquerors (especially Rhaenys, my fave who, as you said wonderfully put it, did get Lana del Rey'd and did die young and beautiful)? Toughie, because there really isn't a whole lot of information about them that hasn't been warped via mythologization, either in a positive and negative direction, and also because it seems like they were particularly tight lipped about their personal lives in both words and actions. But I will endeavor to do my best because I love them. I also have a lot to say about their interpersonal relationships with each other and with other people, especially once the children start getting thrown into the mix, but for now, simple personality descriptions of Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaenys for me are as follows:

Aegon - Aegon, first and foremost, appeared to be an introverted and deeply private person. Likely not someone who relished solitude, but didn't necessarily have a need or want for a lot of people around him, choosing instead to intensely value the few that he had, like his siblings and his children or, well, at least Aenys. For all the talk of the dragon's temper and all that, Aegon also didn't appear to be someone with that tempestuous a personality, and certainly no fits of fury, as exhibited by the way he waged a very methodical conquest and the way he was willing to deal with the North peaceably, as well as his willingness to sit down and end the conflict with Dornish even after Rhaenys's death (really, the two years of the Dragon's Wroth appears to have been the exception to the rule, motivated by very understandable extenuating circumstances to allow for such a breach in character). And in spite of what appears to have been pretty consistent neglect of Maegor, Aegon also seems to have been a devoted family man, never proving unfaithful to either of his sisters, deeply loving towards his eldest son, and an almost constant babysitter to his grandchildren, all the signs of someone who valued family and, if my own theories about how he got around to conceiving Maegor are to be taken as fact, valued duty even in the face of his own wants. And lastly, between being willing to negotiate with Dorne and accepting peaceable Northern surrender and the fact that the dragondreaming thing was a piece of lore that came from GRRM himself, Aegon seems to be someone who always did what was best for the greater good of the people, things like ending wars he might not have personally wanted to end for the realm

Visenya - Some of the more pervasive perceptions of Visenya are actually right, in my view; she was a stern and unforgiving person who could be as implacable as a wall when she wanted someone to suffer, and never willing to take anyone's shit, whether it was an enemy defying her or a little sibling (most likely Aegon) being irritating when they were children. But Visenya was also a dragon, and she did have that classic dragon temperament, we know that she had a temper given how involved she was in the Dragon's Wroth, and her determination to continue the war even after it was clear it was exacting a heavy cost and the more pragmatic move, the one that Aegon saw, was to try to come to a peace. Visenya was passionate, clearly, not just from those examples but from the way she was willing to keep on keeping on through the force of her feelings alone, like pushing through injuries to keep on fighting, like at the Field of Fire. She also had a bit of a cruel/sadistic streak, though that didn't really come too much into play when things were serious, more like it was an outlet for some of her darker thoughts. Then, there's this part, which is vital to understand: like Aegon, Visenya was family oriented, but not in the way Aegon was. While Aegon was a family man who valued time with them and only showed his true self to those loved ones, Visenya's devotion to family was exhibited in the way that there was nothing she wouldn't do for her family. There was nothing she wouldn't entertain, no line she wouldn't cross; she would usurp rightful leaders, go to war happily, burn a country to the ground in revenge, engage in dark arts in order to keep her family secure, everything she did she would say was in the service of her family, without compunction. Also, Visenya was a lesbian.

Rhaenys - Most important thing to know is that Rhaenys was absolutely perfect, so jot that down quick. I do subscribe to the way that Rhaenys's personality is described in the book, that she was kind and curious and occasionally impulsive and had a wide imagination, the last of which is what helped inform her love of poetry and music. But I also firmly believe that she was quick witted, not just witty but genuinely fiercely intelligent , and because she was so personable and able to make people love her as quickly as she did (because I will always subscribe to the belief that Rhaenys was very well loved by most people), Rhaenys was also incredibly gifted at not just reading situations and finding out the best outcomes, but also at just reading people, at understanding them and their motivations even at just a glance. Rhaenys was also a fascinating political mind, she knew exactly what she was doing with the propaganda she was creating through singers and minstrels, and though I don't think she ever consummated any relationships outside of her marriage, she absolutely flirted in order to get more people fond of her and her family by extension and spread the Targaryen agenda throughout the land, an early precursor to what her grandson Jaehaerys would do with the Doctrine of Exceptionalism. Rhaenys, while kindhearted, was also both capable of holding long grudges, and absolutely not a pushover; she had a spine of steel and sometimes could just continue on a course out of sheer stubbornness, nothing else. But she was kind, and extraordinarily loving, and the most openly affectionate out of all her siblings, capable of bringing a smile to Visenya's face and getting Aegon out of his shell, and she was an attentive and loving mother to Aenys for the three years that he had her. And this emotional openness is what allowed her to also be more "spiritual" than her siblings, but not in a way that we typically see it, as ascribed to religion, but in the way she was able to bond so fiercely with Meraxes, to really love her and spend so much time with her and want to be free with her, to be the only one out of her siblings to really forge that "one heart, one mind" kind of dragon bond that they never did with Balerion or Vhagar.

I'm sticking to just what I extrapolated based on the book that I use to then flesh out some of the stuff that's pure speculation on my part (like Visenya's romantic feelings towards Rhaenys specifically, Rhaenys's dynastic ambitions when it came to her family with Aegon, or what I believe to be passive suicidal ideation from Aegon following Rhaenys's death) but these are basically the core personality traits of the three Conquerors as I've interpreted them.